Bike Racing Simulation... With Your Real Bike?

[Paul Jeffrey]

This is a curious one, and frankly I don't know if I should be impressed or surprised or some other emotion in between... so I'll tell you all about it and leave you to decide.

An email popped into my inbox today about something I'd heard nothing of up to this point, and it took me a little while to fully understand what exactly I was looking at. Apparently, Moto Trainer have announced a motorbike simulator that allows you to use your own bike real world bike to "train" on each and every MotoGP circuit across the world…

Curious? Yeah, me too.

Now how do Moto Trainer intend to get your own real bike into a sim, and on to the virtual racetracks of the MotoGP World Championship? Well this is the curious bit, and the thing I'm honestly not sure if I think it a stroke of genius or just utter madness... they provide a stand that you bolt onto your real world bike, which then allows you to use your bike as a controller to pilot a virtual counterpart in the latest MotoGP racing game from Italian development team Milestone!

Still a bit confused? Basically, the frame appears to act as a controller that you attach your bike into. Then, using software developed by the Moto Trainer studio, this will link into the latest MotoGP game and allow you to use your bike as a controller and ride the virtual bikes within the simulation. It isn't clear if the physics and specifics of your own personal bike will be replicated within the software, or if the bridge between real and virtual is just the physical use of your own bike, but it is certainly something a little different that's for sure...

Check out a kid using a £15,000 bike to play video games below:

From the official press release:

Dorna Sports is delighted to announce a partnership with Moto Trainer to launch a training revolution for riders across the globe. Bringing the thrill of Grand Prix racing to fans the world over, Moto Trainer is a motorbike simulator that allows riders to train on their own bikes.

Moto Trainer’s incredible software can virtually transport riders to the world’s greatest tracks, allowing riders to train on each and every MotoGP™ circuit across the globe. Suitable for sports bikes of all shapes and sizes, Moto Trainer can either be linked to the official MotoGP™ videogame, produced by long-standing MotoGP™ partner and videogame developer Milestone, or riders can follow an OnBoard lap of the track on which they wish to train.

Linking the simulator to MotoGP™ videogame allows riders to become part of the action like never before, with real-world movement perfectly synchronised to the digital rendering of their riding on-screen. On-board laps, meanwhile, provide the perfect blueprint for riders to follow – allowing even the most veteran riders to train in seamless synchronicity with their on-screen counterpart.

Andrea Lombardi, CEO of MotoTrainer: “The software behind Moto Trainer, developed by our engineers, is capable of playing any onboard video, and allows riders to save their efforts on a telemetry master track. This means that you can load any circuit and motorbike you want, with riders replicating the video to the reference telemetry. The software then analyses the rider's performance by monitoring the accelerator, front and rear brakes, gearbox and trajectories. It’s a platform that allows bikers to train on every circuit in the world at an affordable price.”

Pau Serrancanta, Managing Director at Dorna Sports: “I’m delighted to be able to announce this agreement, adding yet another way in which fans are able to connect with and enjoy their favourite sport. In addition, the fact that it can also be used alongside the MotoGP™ videogame proves another bolster to Dorna’s eSports project, which continues to go from strength to strength.”

An awesome innovation, or totally overkill?

What do you think?

 

[Jugulador]

Only if I can play with my family:

 

[Stuntman Daz]

Totally overkill but still cool. We definitely need a better control scheme for bike games.

 

[ivanalesi]

This has been around for a while.

 

[mechsicko]

Here's a more practical version of the 'hobby horse' variety

There have been some clamp-on-desk handlebar thingies of varying levels of build along the way too

And foot controls as well

 

[Diogo Ramalho]

That's all that is missing for bike sims... a proper controller! I'm eagerly waiting for one. Nice to see people with the same interests and working on nice projects.

The absence of G-forces will be the major difficult to surpass to make a controller for bikes. Bike control is all about body movement. To control a car you don't need to feel the g-forces in the same way as you do to control a bike.

 

[rd.king]

I don't think mine will fit on it.

 

[Sigwolf]

Yeah, the "actual bike" thing is pointless. It would be much more functional and economical to just develop a proper bike sit-on controller. To make the experience more realistic, you would need vr and a good gyroscope rig to simulate the forces, and there goes economical, but still makes more sense than shoe-horning a real bike into it.

 

[Marg]

But that TrackDayR is really is great thing. Saw Robo46 video racing with AI, really realistic, AI were crashing, making mistakes... another AI dropping postions, because of greater than expected tire wear, etc... Also, if player crashes he must run to bike to pick it up. And it is already implemented before early access. Release is always delayed though. I wish they could already make it available in early access....

 

[Ricoow]

Really skeptical about this. As a beginning rider I think I might actually learn wrong stuff on cornering due to all the lack of real world forces in the bike.

 

[Karstenve]

I have a funny story about this. Back in 3rd grade (around 5 years ago) I had an internship at Cruden Simulators in Amsterdam. They are the company that used to make those huge 6 DOF sims for raceteams and universities and stuff. Back then they were almost finished with their bike racing sim. So obviously they let me try it.

This is the sim:

Basically they took a Ducati and stripped the parts that were not needed and put it on a platform. Then they used VR for the immersion. Now this is where I made a terrible mistake. I had never tried VR before and what they didn't tell me was that the sim was on "advanced" mode meaning counter steering was a thing. I'm still not sure if they did it on purpose but it meant I went straight into the wall. Because I was so immersed I seriously jumped off the bike xD. Everyone was laughing. They explained what happened and after that I tried again and I loved it.

They had a system with motion sensors and obviously I saw all the technical bits and I have to say that, that's probably the best it will ever be. I don't see it improving more than that sim. It was a lot of fun but it has it's limits

 

[Jim Layee]

Want one !

 

[Daniel R.]

Well, I think it feels strange to hang down on one side of the bike.
In real life forces should only press you down in the bikes Z-direction... Unless you accelerate or brake.
Or not?

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

In real life forces should only press you down in the bikes Z-direction... Unless you accelerate or brake.

Acceleration is not really a problem, braking can be hard (I have grip pads on my tank to stay seated more easily), and hangoff pushes you onto the seat, with all the weight on the outside leg/tigh.

With a static bike leaned over, the weight is going to be on the inside foot, which is completely wrong (and in fact quite a dangerous habit on the real track).

 

[sergheo]

In general, virtual races are apparently interesting and much closer to an ordinary amateur fan, but I'd rather wait for the real ones.

 

[Slapped]

I used one of these once, in an arcade, back in the late 80's

Honestly it's not overkill when you consider what some car sim racers put into their rigs. One of the reasons I've shied from what motorcycle sims there are, is that there's a complete lack of immersion enhancing peripherals on the market, at least at affordable prices. Unsurprisingly so, as you're going to need at least a basic motion rig to capture what we car sim racers can get with a low end wheel, a modified deckchair, and a couple of bass shakers.

 

[Mekonrider]

I'm determined to get my elbow down IRL this year. Saw a video with a guy just going round in circles in a car park doing it. Knee down is easy enough but I learnt in the 90s so my style is a bit of the time and I need to learn this newer off the side and down low style.

 

[mechsicko]

Yeah, the "actual bike" thing is pointless. It would be much more functional and economical to just develop a proper bike sit-on controller. To make the experience more realistic, you would need vr and a good gyroscope rig to simulate the forces, and there goes economical, but still makes more sense than shoe-horning a real bike into it.

The gyro thing is a great idea and one I had never considered in my own projects. I wonder if it's possible to bash one from a Segway, it's probably close to the right strength.. hmmm

 

[Dave Thayer]

dont see how this could be realistic, maybe I am missing how this Simulator works with real bikes. Whatever it is, probably pretty expensive, plus you need a real bike which i dont have. Would just be interested in seeing more videos on this even though i am not a real biker.

Curious question, how much is that bike cost that boy is sitting on in the video? I know, if you have to ask, it costs too much. Too bad we couldnt see what the boy was looking at while racing on the bike.

 

[Damage Inc]

"Looks" superb as long as you have a spare bike lying around. But how do the other controls work? Brakes, gears, clutch, throttle etc?

 

[Romandevison]

It looks interesting, but it makes no sense. Even in winter, you can practice on the kart tracks at the supermoto pitbike and it will be cheap deal.